October 1994 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

The nation's job market continued to improve in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The unemployment rate was little changed over the month but, at 5.8 percent, is nearly a full percentage point below the January level. Nonfarm payroll employment--as measured by the survey of employers--rose by 194,000 in October, including a substantial gain in factory jobs. Both average earnings and the overall workweek in the private sector rose markedly over the month. Total employment--as measured by the household survey-- experienced its third consecutive large increase, after rising modestly earlier in the year.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of persons unemployed (7.6 million) and the unemployment rate (5.8 percent) were little changed in October, after seasonal adjustment. Since January, the unemployment level has dropped by 1.1 million and the rate by 0.9 percentage point. (See table A-1.)

The unemployment rate for adult women fell 0.3 percentage point to 5.0 percent in October, after showing little movement since May. The rates for adult men (5.1 percent), teenagers (17.3 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks (11.4 percent), and Hispanics (9.4 percent) all showed little or no change from the prior month. The jobless rate for each of these major labor force groups has declined since January. (See tables A-1 and A-2.) The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks fell by 290,000 in October, while those unemployed for 15 weeks or longer rose by 185,000 (table A-5).

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment rose by 608,000 to 124.2 million in October, after seasonal adjustment. This was the third consecutive month of sharp gains in this measure (totaling 1.8 million) and brought the increase since January to 2.3 million. The employment-population ratio--the proportion of the working-age population with jobs--has risen from 62.2 percent in July to 62.9 percent in October. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (4.4 million) and the number of voluntary part-time workers (17.7 million) were about unchanged in October. (See table A-3.) About 7.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job, 6.1 percent of all employed persons (table A-8).

The civilian labor force rose by 493,000 in October to 131.8 million. Labor force growth has been strong since July, after lagging through the first half of the year. Over the month, the labor force participation rate increased 0.2 percentage point to 66.8 percent. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The number of persons who wanted and were available for work but were no longer actively looking after having searched sometime in the past 12 months was 1.7 million (not seasonally adjusted) in October. Of that total, the number who were not looking because they felt that there were no jobs available for them--discouraged workers--was 460,000. (See table A-8.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to increase in October, rising by 194,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Manufacturing, services, and retail trade accounted for nearly all of the October job growth. (See table B-1.) The number of payroll jobs has expanded by 2.6 million since January.

Manufacturing employment increased by 40,000 in October, building on the growth trend that began about a year ago. The number of factory jobs has risen by about 200,000 during the period. Over-the-month increases were widespread, as the manufacturing diffusion index of employment change, at 60.8 percent, was particularly high (table B-6). The largest gains occurred in fabricated metals (9,000), autos (10,000), and rubber and plastics (6,000). Declines appear to have moderated in such defense- dependent industries as aircraft and instruments.

The number of construction workers was little changed in October, following a large gain in September. Small over-the-month increases among general building and special trade contractors were largely offset by job losses in heavy construction. Construction employment is up 275,000 over the year and 500,000 since it began to recover in mid-1992. Mining employment continued to edge down in October, due to further job losses in oil and gas extraction. The mining industry, which has been on a long-term decline, has lost about 115,000 jobs since mid-1990.

Within the service-producing sector, the services industry added 96,000 jobs in October. Both the September and October gains in this industry were smaller than those that occurred earlier this year. A third of the October growth took place in business services, although growth in this industry also was somewhat below average. Health services and motion pictures each expanded their payrolls, while hotels and other lodging places continued to show weakness.

Retail trade employment rose by 51,000 in October, with gains spread primarily among general merchandise stores, automotive dealers and service stations, furniture stores, and eating and drinking places. Wholesale trade added 11,000 workers, with its durable goods distribution component showing most of the gain.

Overall employment in finance, insurance, and real estate was little changed, but large losses continued among mortgage brokers (which comprise half of employment in nondepository institutions). Government employment also showed little change in October, following sizable gains in state and local governments in recent months.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose 0.3 hour to a high level of 34.9 hours in October, seasonally adjusted. The average manufacturing workweek increased by 0.1 hour to 42.1 hours, and factory overtime held steady at 4.7 hours. Both are at extremely high levels. (See table B-2.)

As a result of the increases in both employment and hours, the index of aggregate weekly hours of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls jumped 1.0 percent to 131.1 (1982=100) in October, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing index rose by 0.6 percent to 106.4. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Both average hourly and weekly earnings of private production or nonsupervisory workers rose sharply in October. Average hourly earnings increased 0.7 percent to $11.24 in October, seasonally adjusted, and weekly earnings increased 1.6 percent to $392.28. Over the year, hourly earnings increased by 2.9 percent and weekly earnings by 4.1 percent. (See table B-3.)